Faith Qiao Week 15 - Memories in Attack on TItan (Spoilers)
Faith Qiao
Ms. Benedetti
AP English 11
27 April 2022
Memories in Attack on Titan
Attack on Titan was one of those anime that served as a normie's entrance into the culture. The series came to me back when I was in fifth grade which was around two years after the first season. The premise of Attack on Titan is based in its setting: the last flicker humanity is trapped inside three walls because beyond the gates are Titans eager to consume their flesh and bones. However, one day, one of the three walls is busted down, what now? Well, to Eren Yeager, who saw his mother get eaten by a titan, the answer was simple: kill all Titans.
For those who have not experienced Attack on Titan, I will quickly propose some dilemmas for you to consider in the comments:
If you had the power to change your own past, would you? But again, your experience is what shapes you in the present, would you change the past knowing that it would change the person who you are today?
Things were easy back then. Eren, the main character, was a stubborn idiot, and the plot was as simple as killing neutered pseudo-humans dancing between a forest of static rods. I honestly was not a fan, but fifth-grade me had a lot of spare time to waste, so I took to following the manga.
*Spoiler Warning*
Eren Yeager is definitely my favorite character in the story, and this is because he never looks back. It is not that he doesn't learn his lessons, it is that he has no regrets. Later in season 4, Eren is revealed to have the power to show his memories to past users of his power. He uses this to kill his mother and instigate Eren from the past to embrace his conviction. In other words, the reason why Eren Yeager, at the beginning of the story, embarks on the journey that he does is because future Eren put him on that path. This revelation should essentially render the events of the story meaningless, yet Eren moves forward—he kills his mother to preserve the him right now.
But is memory significant in this situation beyond the fact that it is the means by which Eren directs the past? To me, Eren's conviction to kill his mom represents the permanence of memory in human perception. We're rightfully attached to our past because it is what makes us our own person. My therapist used to compare Anorexia to a toxic romantic relationship where the abused party refuses to leave. Why do they chose to stay? Because abuse is all they have ever known, and this prolonged abuse becomes a core part of who they are.
Attack on Titan made me think about identity, but in the sense that it is worthless. There is no need for someone to stick to a constructed perception of themselves. Given the chance to change the past, I should, but I wouldn't.
Image Sourced from: https://static0.srcdn.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Attack-on-Titan-Nicest-Things-Eren-Jeager-Did.jpg
Hi Faith,
ReplyDeleteIf I had the power to change my own past, I definitely would. As much as I hate to say it, I am horrible at learning from mistakes. Changing my own past and fixing my mistakes would serve as a handicap of sorts, keeping me from falling and going through the recovery process. It would be crude, but effective.
Seeing your post made me think of a quote I haven't thought of in a long time. I believe it came from Rick Riordan's "Heroes of Olympus" series, if you've read it. It went something along the lines of "We can't choose our parentage, but we can choose our legacy". The bottom line is, you have the power to change who you will be.
Sincerely,
Sean Wang
Hi Faith,
ReplyDeleteIf I had the power to change my past, I would. There are so many things that I know now from living in the present which would certainly give me an easier life if I were to go back in time (investing in DogeCoin early, anyone?). I don’t believe that having a different past would fundamentally change the way I am today. According to my parents, I’ve basically been the same person since birth, and I know I’ll always be a person I can be proud of.
Sincerely,
Krish
Hi Faith, If I had the power to change my own past, I don't think I would change a thing. I have made mistakes and doing different things could have eventually caused me to be a different person today. However, I believe that everything from my past has influenced me and taught me things. If I could go in the past to fix my mistakes, how would I learn what is right? What to do next time? I would not be able to attribute my own success to myself, and that is why I would not change my past.
ReplyDeleteHi Faith,
ReplyDeleteSince I have not watched Attack on Titan yet and intend to in the future, I will just be following the prompt you seem to have given for us to respond to. If I had the power to change my own past, I don't think I would change anything. Even though I often feel regret for not doing something or other, I am content with my life as is. From time to time I may think I would want to go back and do something differently but I wouldn't want to risk that change for the life I have right now. That's pretty cheesy but also If I had the power, I would be too lazy to even do anything with it as well.
Hey Faith, I've heard many good things about Attack on Titan, and your post definitely intrigued me. For me personally, I don't really think I would like the person I would be if I could go back in time and change events. In one instance, I would either come back like Bella from Twilight (timid and shallow with no sense of self), or extremely egotistical and overly independent. I strongly believe in the idea that everything happens for a reason, and in the end we'll all end up being the person we were meant to be in the end. Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteHi Faith,
ReplyDeleteFrom your blog, I remembered the movie Back to the Future. It was so funny (I think it was the second one) where the main character (I don't remember the character's names) went to the future, bought some type of magazine that someone else used, went back in time, and essentially changed the present completely to the point where the main character's original father is dead now. Honestly though, if I had the power to change the past, I would only change one thing: I would try and get rid of my procrastination. It has really tortured me this year.
Sincerely,
Vivan Waghela
Hi Faith,
ReplyDeleteI do not fully agree that identity is worthless. Identity is the culmination of our past experiences and inherent character, the result of the endless synergy between Nature and Nurture. While discarding a toxic relationship is important, I do not think erasing it from identity is the best course of action. I personally believe it would be much better to adapt that part of identity into being a survivor of a toxic relationship. Learning from that experience would assist in recognizing such relationships much easier. As the popular proverb goes, "an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure."
Sincerely,
Raymond Yu
P.S. The reason I heard that people stay in toxic relationships is actually the human desire for familiarity. People tend to prefer the familiar over the new, sometimes even when it is to their own detriment.
Hey Faith!
ReplyDeleteIf I could go back in time and change my past, I can say with certainty that I would not. To some extent, I surprise myself by typing that. It seems given that anyone would want to go back in time and retake a test or change a bad decision or avoid a terrible injury. But looking back, every unfortunate thing that has happened to me over the past couple years (trust me there has been a LOT) has completely changed me as a person. I think bad things that happen to you, while they might suck at the time being, teach you so many lessons and pave a new and improved path for you. I am super proud of the person I am today even though my mistakes have made me what I am and I genuinely would not take it back. Thank you for sharing and good luck on your AP tests this week<3
Hi Faith,
ReplyDeleteSince I have promised countless people that I will one day actually start watching AOT, I only read the first half of your post. I agree with your assertion that the plot seems quite stupid and basic--I feel like I would have a better time watching less "normie" content. However, from what I've heard, everything gets infinitely better. The idea of changing my past is always a topic that has been undecided for me. When I was in 9th grade, I definitely felt like I wanted to change my past, but if I had at that time, I would not have experienced the same happiness I have in the years after the fact. This dilemma leaves me pretty undecided on the whole "turn back time" hypothetical.
Yi-Kuan C.